ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Sherry Rehman on Monday warned that weaponisation of water is neither sane nor acceptable in a region after it emerged that India has given approval to the Dulhasti Stage-II hydropower project on Chenab River in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K).
Calling it a “flagrant violation of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT),” she highlighted: “As per the IWT, which cannot be unilaterally revoked, as recent UN rapporteurs have confirmed, Pakistan has control over the waters of the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab rivers, while the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers fall under India’s control”.
Sherry Rehman said following the illegal suspension of the treaty, India has decided to fast-track several disputed hydroelectric projects in the Indus Basin. These projects include Sawalkot, Ratle, Bursar, Pakal Dul, Kwar, Kiru, and Kirthai-1 and 2. Dulhasti Stage-II is considered part of this strategy.
“Baglihar, in the picture below, is already contested by Pakistan as a violation of the IWT,” she said.
“This weaponisation of water is neither sane nor acceptable in a region on the frontlines of climate change and environmental stress. It will inflame tensions in a bilateral relationship already bristling with hostility and distrust,” the PPP leader concluded.